January 2025 Minutes (8th)
Minutes from Parish Council Meeting held on 8th January 2025 held at Belchford Village Hall.
Present in person: Councillors: I Goodall (IG), J Newby (JN), K Skalka (KS), P Morris (PM), P Barnes (PB), J Smith (JS), P Thompson (PT), M Brown (MB). D Cllr D Simpson also present the clerk, Mrs K M Elliott and 14 members of the public.
The public forum began at 7.45 pm
Public Forum:
The Meeting began at 7.45 pm:
1. Apologies for absence and reasons given – NS provided apologies.
2. Declaration of interests and requests for dispensations - To receive declarations of interest in accordance with the Localism Act 2011 and to consider granting dispensation(s), as per written requests received by the proper officer, to councillors under section 22 of the Act. There were no councillors with any DPI.
3. Chairman’s remarks – PT welcomed everyone to the meeting and advised that the whole of the meeting will be open to public comment and councillors will make comments later in the meeting. There is the potential for this application to impact on everyone here this evening.
4. Planning Matters:
a) S/013/01708/24 Blue Bell Inn Main Road Belchford. Erection of 1 no. detached house with detached garage block.
Background to this site and planning applications relating to it were provided. The Neighbourhood Development Group wish to retain the figure of 8 layout of Belchford Village. The site is of approximately half an acre. There is a single access point. Approximately 20 to 40 years ago the site was well maintained and used giving unrestricted access and open views. Between 1990 and 2000 houses were built around the outside leaving 1 remaining access. In 2002 the land and pub were purchased and upgraded until the pub was sold to the current owners. The upgrade was supported by a grant obtained by the parish council. 4 previous applications have all been refused by ELDC. Refusals included grounds of protecting the form and character of the village, keeping roadside development, concerns over access and visibility. Also the possible effect on the viability of the pub and impact on restricted wildlife species.
The Pickles family are present at the meeting and are planning to build a house for their own occupation. Mr Pickles 2 daughters now own the land and plan to build and occupy the proposed property.
The NDP was discussed and the lack of communication with the owners with regard to the change of use. The NDP group apologised for this oversight.
The proposed property is 520 sq. meters which is 4 times larger than an average 4 bed property.
At the last planning refusal the Planning Inspector advised not to apply again due to the reasons provided in the report.
The Chairman asked for individual comments from the residents present this evening, and they included:
• Concerns re safety of access to and from the site,
• Pressure on services which are already at capacity,
• Reasons for wanting to build and live here,
• There have been lots of change in Belchford over the past 65 years and a nice house on this plot would tidy the area up,
• Grounds for previous refusals are very clear and nothing has changed.
• This proposed development would change the form and layout of Belchford,
• The scale and form of the proposed development would be different to all other properties in the parish,
• Access
• Disabled access at the rear of the pub would be compromised,
• Delivery access to the pub also at the rear would be compromised and
• The pub car park would also be compromised.
• A house of this magnitude is totally inappropriate for this site.
Parish Councillors responses:
JN – Object, for the same reasons as previous applications and objections. The pub business will be adversely affected.
JS – Object, the proposed development is a huge starter home and any development jeopardises the future viability of the village.
PB – No renewables are mentioned in the proposal, access and ownership of this site affects the viability of the pub. This development would remove a green area from the centre of the village.
IG – Object, The scale and size of the proposed development would affect the 18 surrounding homes.
MB – Supports in principle, the access could be resolved between the applicant and the public house as a business.
KS – Object, the previous reasons for refusal, the proposed development is dominant and over bearing.
PM – Agree broadly with all objections outlined. This proposal is for a huge house which is not in keeping with the village and the green space is a precious amenity and needs protecting as a community asset. There is too much potential to endanger the pub as our community asset.
D Cllr Simpson – I have listened to all the comments and will report back to ELDC with is conclusion.
PT – Object, agrees with the majority of councillors, nothing is different in this application to those previously refused. The proposed development is out of proportion and will be taller than all the neighbouring properties. It will spoil the village and will be a loss of green space.
VOTE – JN proposed to object to this planning application, PM seconded and there were 6 votes to object. One vote to support. The majority vote is to object to this planning application.
The deadline for responses is 12th January.
NDP Examination Stage – IG explained the reason for discussing this matter, ELDC have requested an extension to the 5 week period for them to comment on the examination stage of our NDP and this was unanimously granted.
5. The next parish council meeting will be held on Thursday 16th January 2025.
There being no further business the Meeting closed at 8.48 pm.